Cast bronze medal of Andrea Doria, by Leone
Leoni
Genoa, Italy, around AD
1541
A sculptor and his patron: crime, punishment
and liberation
The sculptor-goldsmith Leone Leoni (about
1509-90) could fairly be described as a highly talented,
extraordinarily bad-tempered criminal. When Leoni assaulted Orazio
Vecellio, the son of the great Venetian painter, Titian, he had
already done time as a galley slave in the papal fleet, a
punishment for the attempted murder of the pope's
goldsmith, Pellegrino di
Leuti.
Leoni's
powerful patrons, mindful of his great artistic talents, were
inclined to forgive him his excesses. Andrea Doria (1466-1560), the
ruler of the northern Italian port of Genoa, had achieved his
eminence through his skills as an admiral, fending off the threat
of the French. He employed many of the leading artists of the day
to make his portrait and intervened with the Pope to secure
Leoni's release from the galleys. This medal was made as a
token of the artist's gratitude. It depicts Doria as
Neptune, the Roman god of the sea whose attribute was the trident.
On the reverse of the medal is the portrait of Leoni himself. The
fact that this side has no identifying inscription shows that the
story of Doria's magnanimity was well known, since the
medal was widely circulated and had to be understood as
highlighting one of Doria's virtues.
P. Attwood, The currency of fame: portra-7, exh. cat. (New York, 1994)